"HAU" 2003 Obituary

HAUSCHILD o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-07-21 published
Canadian Football League wide receiver 'was always there' and
rarely missed a pass
All-round athlete was also a prolific artist who amused teammates
and Friends with his skillful caricatures
By Randy RAYSpecial to The Globe and Mail Monday, July 21, 2003
- Page R5
Ottawa -- Kelvin
KIRK was an artist on and off the football field.
On the gridiron, the former Canadian Football League wide receiver
was known as an all-round athlete with tremendous breakaway speed
who rarely missed a pass within his grasp; in the locker room,
at home and in his second career in the advertising department
at an Ottawa newspaper, he was skilled with pen, pencil and paintbrush.
His humorous caricatures often left his teammates and fellow
employees grabbing at their sides with laughter.
Mr. KIRK, who was born on December 13, 1953, died on July 2 of
an apparent heart attack while playing pickup basketball in Ottawa.
The 49-year-old native of Mt. Pleasant, Florida, began his football
career at Dunbar High School in Ohio where he caught 13 touchdown
passes in two years for the Dunbar Wolverines.
In 1973, the 5-foot-11 (1.79 metre), 175-pound (65-kilogram)
receiver joined the Dayton Flyers at the University of Dayton
in Ohio, where he was the Flyers' top pass receiver for three
straight years and was voted the team's most valuable player
in 1975.
When he left after three seasons, he held the school's record
for receiving yardage, with 1,676 yards. In the Flyers' record
book, he continues to hold fourth place in career receiving yardage,
says Doug HAUSCHILD, director of media relations and sports information
at the University of Dayton.
After being selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 17th round
of the 1976 National Football League draft, Mr.
KIRK walked out
of training camp when he sensed he wasn't getting a legitimate
opportunity to make the club.
He was named "Mr. Irrelevant" because as the 487th selection,
he proved to be the last player taken in the draft, says Shawn
LACKIE, a public-relations spokesman for the Canadian Football
League.
He signed with the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts
in 1977 and led the team in pass receptions.
He also played for the Calgary Stampeders, Saskatchewan Roughriders
and the Ottawa Rough Riders. He was Ottawa's most valuable player
in 1981 when the Rough Riders made it to the Grey Cup that year
but lost 26 - 23 to the Edmonton Eskimos.
His quarterback that year was J.C.
WATTS, who would later become
an Oklahoma congressman.
During his Canadian Football League career he caught 153 passes
for 2,942 yards and 16 touchdowns. He returned 163 punts for
1,678 yards and 82 kickoffs for another 1,922 yards. His runbacks
produced seven touchdowns.
"When the ball was thrown to him, he was always there. He had
great breakaway speed," says Rick
SOWIETA, a teammate of Mr.
KIRK's when both broke into the Canadian Football League with
the Argonauts.
"He had good speed, great hands -- he was our deep threat," says
Jeff AVERY, one of Mr.
KIRK's former Ottawa Rough Riders teammates,
and now a radio commentator for the Ottawa Renegades of the Canadian
Football League. "I remember one game when he caught three touchdown
passes to help us whip the Montreal Concorde." Most of his former
RoughRiders' teammates remember Mr.
KIRK's biggest missed pass,
though the failed reception wasn't his fault.
"It was the 1981 Grey Cup game in the third or fourth quarter
and Kelvin was streaking down the sidelines in the clear. J.C.
[WATTS] overthrew him by about six inches. Had he made the catch,
it was a touch-down and we would have won the cup," says Mr.
SOWIETA, now a restaurant owner in Ottawa.
A professional artist and trained art teacher, Mr.
KIRK joined
the advertising department at The Ottawa Citizen in 1989 in an
order entry position and eventually worked on layouts and processing
copy for advertisements, before moving into desktop publishing,
which involved the creation of ads.
"There was nothing you could put on his desk that he couldn't
handle," says Rejéan
SAUMURE, manager of advertising services
at the Citizen.
"Kelvin never complained. He took it all on with a smile that
was worth a million bucks.
"He was the kind of guy who, as soon as he walked into the office,
everyone liked. He had a magnetism about him. He warmed a room."
Besides staying in tip-top shape, Mr.
KIRK kept involved in football
by helping coach the Ottawa Sooners of the Ontario Football Conference.
He was also a prolific artist, one of his specialties being caricatures
that amused his former teammates and Citizen colleagues.
During his years as a player, he would often sneak into the locker
room prior to practice and draw cartoons on a chalk board, usually
poking fun at teammates, coaches and various on-field happenings,
says Mr. AVERY. He continued his antics as a coach with the Sooners
as a way of keeping the mood light, adds Mr.
SOWIETA.
"Before practice, players always checked the board to see who
was being picked on that day by this mystery drawer. His work
could be hilarious," says Mr.
AVERY.
At the Citizen, where one of his dreams was to become a newsroom
artist, Mr.
KIRK often drew caricatures of co-workers and members
of his own family.
His drawings often appeared on the birthday cards that circulated
around the office.
"People would be quite amused," says Mr.
SAUMURE. "
His work was
not always flattering but it always captured those he was drawing."
Mr. KIRK leaves his 20-year-old son, Jonathan, and his wife
JoannLARVENTZ, from whom he was separated.